The briefing will begin at 15:30 CET to review the Agency's activities in 2011 and look ahead to those of 2012.

Next year will be marked by several major launches, the maiden flight of the Vega launcher, more Galileo satellites, the third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3), and the Swarm, MetOp-B and MSG-3 satellites.

ESA astronaut André Kuipers will spend five months on the International Space Station and will participate in the docking and berthing of ATV Edoardo Amaldi, Europe's supply spacecraft, when it arrives in March next year. Similarly, André will be involved in berthing the visiting Cygnus and Dragon US cargo vehicles during their maiden flights.

The year will culminate in the Council at Ministerial level, to be held in Italy towards the end of the year, a major milestone in deciding the Agency's future programmes.